On the Eve of Christmas

This morning I will be jumping on a bus and then a subway train to get to my office to work until approx. 3:00pm... only to get back on the subway, onto the bus and home.....to finish packing, load the car with presents, food, wine (and more wine), dog and dog paraphernalia, stop at grocery store to purchase organic cream and then drop a present of at wee Jack's house. By then I may need to turn back as I will have forgotten something at home. But I really need it and so I go back home and then head up Black Creek Dr. towards the 400 hwy.

Feeling very stressed, as I have been for the past 38 days, and nurturing a very stressed neck and head I do need to stop, breath, reflect, smile and realize that my life is going to change so dramatically that all of the above is nothing but a moment in time.

I can't wait to be in Vientam and meeting Lily -My Yen for the very first time. How will she be feeling with this strange person. Will she be checking me out, wondering who this person is with crazy hair like herself. It will be a perfect moment in a not so perfect world. All the worry of the past will be just that as I will be presented with new worries of a different kind. Worries that are golden, that get to perculate over time. Worries that nothing but a cuddle or a few coos can take away.

I wonder what you will be doing on the Eve of Christmas sweet Lily? I know you are very well loved at VT and the Angels above will watch over you. And just think next year at this time you will most likely be walking and talking. We will be at my sister's house in the country and you will be staring up at a great big tree with lots of pretty lights on it. Charlotte will be playing tug of war with your favortie stuffed teddy and mamma will be enjoying the moment with her camera close by.

So here is getting into and through the Christmas holidays with great coffee, food and wine and visions of my sugar plum Lily dancing through my head.

Merry Christmas Everyone!! xxoo

Lily is 11 weeks old...

Yesterday I finally received the news I was hoping for. Lily's medical and more pictures. I was just ecstatic to have more pictures of this beautiful baby girl. All the photos were taken at her medical which was done on Wed. Dec. 16th. Dr. Jonathan did a thorough job and Lily's health cannot be much better than what he has documented.

Lily most likely has scabies which I half expected. Many families have gone before me and have been able to manage through this so I will be connecting with them to determine the best course of treatment once we have Lily out of the orphanage.

The pictures show that in only 4 weeks this little girl has grown substantially. When I see her face I see a much older baby. Her personality is starting to shine through and if I thought the first pics could melt my heart, well, these latest ones have set my heart on fire.

I can't wait to be able to post a picture of her on my site but it will have to wait until the end of Feb. at the earliest.

Well I am a working mom and I have to go and bring home the bacon...or the tofu.

Until later.

Guess Who is Coming Home Tonight?

Things are starting to come together.....especially with Charlotte arriving tonight on a permanent basis. I have spent some time early this morning dog proofing the house. Which means making space and pushing food back on the counter tops. It will be back to early morning walks and also evening ones so hopefully my girlish figure will benefit.

I have not had any more news on the adoption, however I was informed that the babies who were proposed on the 19th of Feb. will be going to HCMC this week for their full medicals and that means we should be getting detailed information on the babies. I will be glad to be doing something, anything to move this process along.


In the meantime I am working away with Erik make new bedroom door frames, doors and trim.




I have started on priming but our next big project will be making a barrier for the stairs. This is a must have and I will need to have this completed by end of year. I welcome feedback and ideas as to what materials we should use. I would love glass but that might be too expensive.

Proposal Day of Sweet Lily

I was up this morning at 4:20am. Can't sleep. Too excited. Is this how it is going to be from here on in? Is this why new mother's don't sleep?

Yes I have such wonderful news. On Thursday Nov. 19th, late morning I received a call from the Director of the Agency I have been working with. Most of the conversation was a blurr to me but I did manage to understand "Sweet Baby" and "Sending an Email".

I couldn't type, and the system seemed to be so slow as 1 second was just too long to wait. But there before my eyes was this little face. She has squeezable cheeks, full lips, very inquisitive eyes and hair that stands straight up. You can see little rolls of fat on her and I gotta tell ya, I have never been so happy to see rolls of fat. She looks really healthy. I counted ten fingers and toes. She seems quite alert in her pictures, which sadly I cannot post on my blog at this time. Until the adoption is final I can only share a photo with you via email....so you have to email me and request this.

Lily was 7 weeks and 1 day at proposal, born on Sept. 30th. This is such a special date for me as my brother Dale, who was only 11 months older than me passed away in the fall of 2003. I think he helped to orchestrate this this....and I have such a warm and wonderful feeling thinking of him.

So it has been two very busy days sharing the news with family and friends. Lots of happy tears have been shed and of course many questions asked, specifically, "when are you going to bring her home?"

I don't know when I will travel to bring her home but it should not be more than 4 months and if I am very lucky it may only be a wait of three months.

She looks very well cared for in the photos and the orphanage looks clean and well organized.

I have a list as long as Yonge St. of things to do so I don't think I will have much idle time on my hands....unless of course these sleepless nights continue. Then I should have everything done in before Christmas.

Meet and Greet - wow what a treat!

This week has been really funky weird. My days are all mixed up and I can't even remember who I spoke with on my morning conference call. I am tossing and turning and waking up long before my alarm clock goes off. I will be happy to see my vacation day this Friday and then a relaxing weekend at the cottage for the Thanksgiving holiday. I will be closing up the cottage this weekend, although I hate having to do it but I would never get anything done in the city if I went to the cottage every weekend.

This week I met with my adoption coordinator and also the Director of the agency I am working with on my adoption. We have been working together over the phone for two years and this week we finally got to meet each other. It was so lovely!

They informed me that I will need to update a few of my documents in my home study due to the fact that there will be a baby proposal coming my way in the next couple months. It could be a bit sooner or later as they just never really know how many proposals they will have each month.

We had a really good chat and I made valiant effort in a short amount of time to reveal as much as I could about myself. As I will be receiving my proposal from them it is best that they know what I am all about. Perhaps it will be easier for them to match me with a baby.

Hmmm maybe that is why I am not sleeping well or, why my days are all mixed up. Perhaps I have something on my mind that is keeping me from being my logical self. Hmmmm!

I did find out a few things and one being that the travel time after proposal to go to Vietnam is becoming a longer wait for all parents. It just breaks my heart to think that your baby is over there and you may not see her for 4-5 months.

It shouldn't be too long now but maybe a bit too soon to contact my travel agent : )

Gone Fishing

Hey I am back after a very long sabbatical from blog writing. Not that I don't enjoy writing as I do very much but after a while I felt like I had nothing new to write and no updates so I stopped. Recently, a good friend of mine at C.I. had suggested that I just write as she had missed reading my blog. So ....I am busier than ever yet it is easier than ever to carve time to sit and write.

I do hope everyone had a great summer despite the weather we had. I am loving September as my August and trying to get away on weekends as much as possible. This weekend I am home in Toronto.

I bet you want an update of my adoption? I went almost the whole summer without an update, tyring to put it on the back burner and not pestering everyone at the agency. I think it was back in April/May that I found out how the list had been reconstructed and I was thrown to number 25 in the wait. The months of April and May did not see any referrals out to waiting parents which was sad and didn't help my wait at all. Summer went slowly and then suddenly when I called the agency in Sept. I found out that I am number 10-12 on the list.

What? I couldn't believe it. Suddenly the time period of fall 2009 was actually here and not just in my mind of wishful thinking. IT IS HERE. I am so not ready : ) I did a lot of prep work last winter and then I have just done nothing. I am sure that is what it is like when you are pregnant...there just comes a time when you do nothing because you think the finish line is too far off. Well, maybe not quite the same considering when you are pregnant your feet start to disappear but you get what I am saying.

So I am looking at receiving my referral of a baby before Christmas with hopes to travel three months after that time. What a lovely Christmas present that would be. I am not even sure if she is born yet but I am thinking about her all the time now and wondering.

So now to get my ducks in a row and get some savings together and some stuff sold to help out with the costs. That is what I am doing this weekend.... organizing to determine what I am selling, getting an ad out there as my roommate is moving out on the 30th and then visiting my banker Monday morning.

I have faith and hope and for me that is like the blood that runs through my veins and the air that I breath. I cannot live without it and I am thankful for it.

Thanks for being patient and waiting for a new blog my friends. More to follow.

May Days

Ok, I know a few of you have been asking about a new post. I have been very busy following along on some other adopting parents journey to Vietnam. They are there right now and it is so beautiful to witness from afar. I am very happy for them and I really enjoy hearing about their Vietnamese experience. The babies are adorable and well looked after.

Recently, I had my girlfriends over for a Spring Fling in May. During the winter we don't get to see too much of each other so it is such a great opportunity to re-connect. And our gaggle is growing as you can see by the photo. In the photo we are missing my friend's 9 month old daughter and an other's 3 1/2 yr old son.

It was such a magical day. The weather could not have been better, the park just around the corner was a favorite for the kids, and there were enough activities to keep everyone entertained. So with a few children missing in the photo, a baby getting ready to be born in July and another friend who just had a baby girl...well there will be lots of kids for Lily to love.