Diapers

Okay, I'm much more environmentally aware than I was as a new mom 8 years ago. We used disposable diapers and I am still considering doing this with the new baby because quite frankly... this momma doesn't like messing with laundry or most especially poopy laundry.


My friend Renee put me on to these gdiapers though and I'm definetly intrigued. I'm not sure if they are available in Ontario or if this is a US product only that I'd have to order online... I'd have to look into that. But after watching the videos it certainly seems doable for every day use. I would still keep some disposable's on hand for out for the day or travel trips.
























So, opinions welcome. You all have been so helpful with all your advice and experience. Do you use any type of non-disposable diaper? ...and if so, what kind? I'm interested in the pros and cons (be honest!) so I'm sure I will stick with this after making the investment in the diapers.

Does it cost much more than regular old Pampers?

I like the idea of composting or flushing the liners!

I guess I'd stay on top of my laundry pile this way!


Thoughts?

Weird...

...how buying and putting together a highchair on a Friday evening can be so exciting! My how times have changed. We watched Chicken Little tonight for movie night and I put together our new highchair in no time at all.

Another week has gone by without 'the call'. I expected as much though with TET in full swing this past week in Vietnam. I am not sure when things (work) get moving again. I really am hoping that our proposal comes before our Director leaves for Madagascar in a couple weeks. I guess only time will tell. We are trying to not expect a call since who knows when it may come... it will be THE MOST pleasant surprise ever.

It is 945pm and I'm pooped. Going to bed with a good book - pleasant dreams everyone.

On to the next thing

I have to keep myself busy... my phone refuses to ring with 'the call' and so I'm trying to keep busy with happy thoughts like baby shopping!

#1: Tell me what type of baby carriers/wearers you use or preferred and which you would say to avoid? I know how old our baby is will determine a bit about this and we won't buy one until we have our referral and are planning our travel.
If she is 6+ months old (which is most likely) will the Hotslings work? I've looked at the Baby Hawks and they look good but what do I know, I never wore either of my other 2 children. Also, which if ANY carrier will be bearable in the heat of Vietnam - where I will likely use the carrier the most.

#2: I'm probably going to do the Playtex drop in bottle system ...it is what I used 'way back when' with both K & Chloe after they were finished with breast feeding. It was easy and I remember both my children had very little to no gas since you can squeeze all the air out before feeding with the liners. Are there any other bottle systems that are simple to use that are better and/or easier? Its' been a while so I thought I'd better ask.

#3: Diaper disposal units - are there any out there that you don't need an engineering degree in order to install the refill bags? I remember with Keaton we had the Original "Diaper Genie" and it never worked very well. My husband is a pretty smart man but he could not for the life of him install those refills. I was not much better at it I confess. By the time Chloe came along we'd given up and were continually trucking diapers out of the house and into the garage. I'd love to find something that works!!!

Stroller Shopping Part Deux

Ok... so the Quinny is out. The non-reclining seat was a deal-breaker for me. I fell in love with the color and how cute it was. Haha!

I have had a few people email me recommends for a different stroller and I have looked at it a lot the past couple days and THINK this might be the one. It is sort of mid-range in price - I'm not willing to go any higher than $300 for a stroller.

The Baby Jogger City Mini comes in some fun colors (I think we'd go with red/black) and it is $269 Canadian... of course the extra things like an accessory tray for the baby and a drink holder for the handle bars make the price climbe to over $300 plus all our lovely Ontario taxes. Ouch!



But I've worked my way through 1 travel system stroller, 1 double stroller and 3 umbrella strollers in my day and I'm ready to have something that doesn't fall apart when you try pushing it through a chunky icey parking lot. I like that it is a 3 wheeler but the front wheel is a 360 rotate. It has some storage and I've heard a lot of good reviews.



Again, if you have this one or know about it let me know your opinions. I'm cheap and $300 + tax is alot for me to spend on a stroller that I know will see barf, bananas, diaper droppings and more in its short lifetime.

Thinking about a different stroller

...because lets face it - even if the phone rings tomorrow with our referral - we can expect a 3-4 month wait to travel. That takes us to Chloe's 6th birthday.
To buy the Joovy Caboose tandem doesn't seem that practical and 'necessary' when I remember that Chloe is going to be 6 yrs old (or close to it) by the time she has a sister. Sometimes I forget that my baby CloClo is growing up. So, as much as I think she would enjoy coming along for the ride... there will not be that many opportunities for her to - she starts school and Grade 1 in September and then I will only have my sweet girl on the weekends.

So, with some thought I think I've decided to go with something compact and umbrella stroller-ish but something that is a little 'stylish' and with better wheels than a typical umbrella stroller. I looked again today at the Quinny Zapp in blue and I really like it. The fabric seat comes off to wash from snowy or muddy boots, etc and the price isn't too bad at $230. I am not willing to spend much more than that on a stroller because I've been down this road before and I know how quickly these strollers get banged up and tossed into the back of cars.

My one BIG hesitation is that the stroller seat doesn't recline for a sleeping baby. I don't plan on using an infant car seat with it so I think a 6-12mo old baby falling asleep full upright is not so great.

Sigh. Stroller shopping is hard.
I want this stroller BUT WITH the reclined seat. Does anyone else make something comparable in this price range but with the seat able to go back?? Questions, Questions?!

Congratulations Coffey's

Just a quick congrats to my wonderful friend who recieved the call of a lifetime yesterday - she got her referral and I couldn't be happier for Renee, Brian, Aislin and Dec. They are a wonderful family and I'm sure they are feeling very blessed today!

I'm praying for a quick court date and speedy travels to your little gal.

Another (cheaper) necklace with charms

My friend Renee just let me in on a sweet necklace and name charms similar to the one I posted about the other day and I love the Tiny Tags so much... and they are quite a bit cheaper.

I cannot wait to be able to order this!

Happy TET

This we've decided is our first of many years to celebrate TET. While I had good intentions of creating a Vietnamese feast from scratch - reality, hockey and lack of time and supplies got in the way. I wanted to do our dinner tonight so I did the second best thing... I called our local Vietnamese restaurant: Pho Viet. He makes amazing Vietnamese and Chinese food and I highly recommend this restaurant for take out if you haven't tried it yet (and live in my part of the world). Alex is from north Vietnam and always asks me about our adoption.

We ordered:
Goi Cuon (aka: Cold Rolls) - Shrimp with pork, vermicelli & vegetables wrapped in rice paper.
Pho Tai, Chin Nac - Rice noodle soup with rare eye round steak & well-done brisket .
Bun Thit Nuong Cha Nem - Vermicelli with spring roll, grilled pork. Served with traditional 'fish sauce'.


Verdict from the adults on our first all-out Vietnamese feast:

Shaune: "That was a lot of noodle". He liked the Pho better than Won Ton Soup.

Leslie: I wasnt a fan of the Cold Rolls and think the Pho broth needs some getting used to. The Noodles with spring roll, veggies & pork was amazing.


Verdict from the kids:

Keaton: He thought it was great. He said he preferred Chinese food but still thought it was pretty great. He would not try the Cold Rolls.

Chloe: Had a lot of fun playing with the noodles and reinacting Po from Kung Fu Panda where he puts the noodle whiskers on his face. She really liked the Cold Rolls with the shrimp, noodle and BBQ pork inside.


I still plan on learning how to cook some of these delicious foods so continue to email me any great recipes you have!

Vietnamese recipes to celebrate TET?

Vietnamese TET is upon us and although I thought we'd have a little child home to celebrate it with... that wasn't to be this year. Next year we will do a celebration to celebrate the Vietnamese New Year and I hope we will go to a larger center like Ottawa or Toronto to enjoy it with other families with Vietnamese children.

I got thinking though... there is no reason not to start celebrating this year. We are very 'close' and Vietnam (and our baby) is always on our minds. There is no better time than right now to start introducing Keaton and Chloe to this new and important holiday we will be embracing. Of course, my children are also huge fans of Asian cuisine and the chance to sample some authentic Vietnamese food is right up their alley.

So... my question is: do you have any favourite Vietnamese recipes that you have made at home and would recommend? We have a few favourite Vietnamese restaurants and I will probably cheat and pick up some spring rolls (mmm!) but I want to learn to make some VN dishes. I'll probably do up a spread for Sunday night... hockey games permitting.

I'd love any suggestions, links to recipes you've tried or heard great things about.

Thanks!
ps: do you like my new music playlist? :)

Pretty jewellery and the name game

I am not much of a jewellery girl. I don't wear my engagement ring much and like only my wedding ring on my hands. I don't wear earrings ever (although a diamond pair would be a welcomed addition to my ears) and I only wear a bit of costume jewellery for special occassions.


But, I saw this necklace and charms by Suzanne Myers and I love the simplicity and special meaning behind it. Each charm has your child's name stamped into it and there are various patterns to choose from. I think I could handle a clean and simple necklace like this... with the name of my three children on it. I've added the webpage to my 'wish list' in my favourites files and I would love to order myself one once we get our baby's referral... as a congratulations to myself for remaining sane when it was questionable if that was possible.

























As to the 3rd name carved on the charm... we are still up in the air about a name. We toss Meg (Meggie is the name from a favourite mini series "The Thorn Birds") and Isabel (The name from one of my favourite movies "Legends of the Fall") back and forth and the kids like the name Maya a lot also. Lately I've been thinking of the name Mia (pronounced like Mia Farrow) and it is now on the list also. I have a feeling the minute we see our little girls face for the first time, her name will become obvious for us. Having her Vietnamese name will also be helpful since we plan on incorporating it as a middle name for her.

Just for fun I am putting a name poll in the side bar - please vote on a name:
1) that sounds nice with our last name
2) that's suitable
3) that you just plain like the best
...We want a name that she won't have to share with 5 other girls in her class. A name that is sweet but also one she'll be able to grow into adulthood with.


I dropped my Vietnamese medical form off for my doctor to redo today (the last one is now expired) and this is the last thing we've been told to do in preparation for our referral.


So... we are ready. Phone: go ahead and ring... we are READY.

Thumbs Up...

The books I ordered came in the mail today and I have to give a big thumbs up on the children's book OVER THE MOON... Keaton and Chloe loved it and it is a sweet book. It is the story of a mom and dad that dream of a child through adoption. They wait and people keep asking "when"... which they answer "soon, very soon"... until finally they do get 'the call' about their daughter who lives in a far off land of mountains and violets and pretty things. They pack, they travel and meet the people who loved her in her birth country. They come home where family and friends celebrate the child and all she means to the family she is joining. It ends with words (paraphrasing here) like: Forever and always we will be your mommy and daddy. Forever and always you will be our child.

The illustrations are beautiful. The text is fairly generic and never mentions a specific birth country so it is a applicable to many international adoption situations. The child is a girl but the photos are very generic (and whimsical) so you could easily read it to your child/ren and change the she to he.

So, yes... it was a nice book. Love that I am slowly adding to my collection of adoption children books. I can imagine reading this story to my daughter someday... it is so nice to be able to imagine that!

(ps: the other book is looking to be great too but I just started reading it so I'll give you a review once I'm finished.)

18 months DTV

Yesterday brought our family to 18 months with our file/dossier in Vietnam. It has been a long road but we are finally seeing some exciting and joyous things on the path ahead. With TET (Vietnamese New Year) approaching I honestly will be quite surprised if we have our child proposal in the next month. Basically everything shuts down for these celebrations. Next year we will begin celebrating this special Vietnamese holiday as a family. Ottawa and Toronto both have big events I think... so we will make the trek either East or West.

On another fun note, my good friend who I used to work in the scrapbook industry with (she is the amazing designer and creater of Mod) is #1 on the Ethiopia list with her agency. She lives in the United States and I miss her terribly. I just think it is a funny coincidence that we are both awaiting our 3rd child... daughters at the same time and we are both #1 on our agency lists finally. Renee, ...love ya girl and you better call me the minute you hear.

Latest baby purchases

I had my eye on this book and a Canadian friend who is also adopting from Vietnam gave it the thumbs up so I ordered it along with the below children's book on Amazon.

I'm looking forward to reading both... one on my own and the other to my children (all three of them eventually)!

Labours of Love
















Over the Moon: An adoption tale















ps: we updated our police records. Now I need to get my doctor to redo my VN medical forms. This week I will do that.

Doing 'stuff'

...finally feel like we have the reason to move forward and start getting stuff 'ready'.

There are still so many things we won't be able to buy until we know our child's age, since we did specify up to toddler age in our homestudy... you never know. Mostly our agency seems to refer younger babies so that is what we are assuming... who knows at this point. It will be a wonderful surprise either way.

So... we are just starting to collect little things and are starting to narrow down our choices on bigger items we need such as crib, stroller and highchair - to name a 'few'. The only thing we have still from when Chloe was a baby is a portable play pen that is in like new condition.

We are still considering a stroller that has a standup/sit down feature on the back of it for little miss-behave to sit on when shopping. She loves the idea (little miss-behave aka: Chloe - she lived up to the name last night at Toys R Us) of riding along with her sister and I like the idea of still having a little bit of a reign on her at the mall, etc.
The only 2 I've found is the BabyTrends Sit n' Stand (I think I'd have to drive to the States to Target to get this one... not a biggie - less than 2 hr drive to Watertown, NY). The other one I can get right at our Toys R Us here and it is called the Joovy Caboose.
I'm completely undecided. I think I like the Joovy better because it is not as 'long' - I don't want to be using it if it feels like a tandem double stroller... especially since Chloe won't be in it all the time with her sister.

We are probably just going to do the Playtex bottles with drop in liners - they are easy to use and I'm used to them since I used this system with both my others once I was finished breast feeding.

We picked up an adorable white sun hat, an inflatable baby tub for Vietnam, and these Munchkin fresh food feeders that I couldn't resist (you can put veggies or fruit, etc in them and they munch on them without the worry of choking on a big bite).

It is nice to finally feel like we need to begin preparing!

Happy news

We got an email this morning that we are now #1 on the wait list.
OMG.
We are over the moon excited.
I realize it could still be a while before we get 'the call' but this is wonderful news.
I am so thankful!

I just told Keaton, who is up and getting ready for school, that we are #1 and the next call will be for our little girl. He is so excited! He says he is going to go and tell all his friends at school that we are next.
Chloe is still sleeping so no excitement from her yet about this.

We are #1. Holy Wow! Holy Cow!
Please pray that our call comes soon, I'm sure now everytime the phone rings I will be jumping out of my skin.

Waiting mom dinner

Tomorrow I am trekking up to Toronto for our bi-monthly Waiting Mom dinner. I haven't been the past few dinners due to other engagements but I'm able to go tomorrow and am looking forward to it. I will be meeting a few new faces from our agency (other waiting moms) as well as lots of familiar faces that like me are anxiously awaiting news on a child to love.

I'm heading in a bit early because there are some great shops at the Yorkdale and I plan on visiting a few of them. I might even buy baby girl an outfit to pick my spirits up a bit. It's been a while since I bought anything for the baby.

Mostly I'm looking forward to seeing other women building their families similar to how we are. I'm excited to sit and chat for hours while eating great food. Thanks Catherine for planning these dinners.

Waiting

is no fun at all.
Click here with password for more.

High in the sky

Thinking about a fellow Ontario friend right now that is finally high in the sky... on her way to her sweet baby boy in Hanoi, Vietnam. This is something we have talked about often the past 1.5 yrs I've known her and it is finally happening for her. She has waited so long... first for a referral and then lots more months to travel.
I am thinking of her right now and hoping she is having peaceful slumber on her flight and hopefully some good airline food and warm blankies... some good movies to occupy her during the long flight would be good too.

Rejoicing with you B... that your day has come. Oh happy day... oh happy day! Give Benjaminh a hug for all of us Waiting moms and I can't wait to meet him in person at the next dinner hopefully!

Hope is here

So, I've decided to give hope and positive thinking a try. I've been in such a downer mood about the adoption the past 3 months and that ... well, that is no fun at all.
We're #2 - that is something to celebrate. We've waited a long time to get this close and we should be celebrating instead of being sad that it is taking so long.
So... I'm going to try planning! I've put everything Vietnam and baby on 'hold' the past year because I didn't want to buy things and plan things that were still so far away. Well, maybe we aren't so far away now and I'm ready to start thinking about travel and baby stuff and baby 'things' we are going to need, etc! I'm excited to start doing this again!

Tonight I started thinking about travel and how we will keep in contact with Keaton and Chloe. It is going to be REALLY hard to be away from them for 3 wks... really hard. I plan on installing Skype on both our home computer and my mother's home computer... as well as our laptop we'll be taking with us.
Other than that, I'm not sure the best way to be 'available' for their calls, etc.
Any suggestions are welcome. I'm trying to plan for something economical (read: cheap as possible) so that the kids can call us if they are having a hard day or have something exciting they want to share with us. I want to feel as close to them as we can without too big of a phone bill when we come home!

I did see this Onesuite.com and it works like a calling card and is (from what I can tell) $0.08 a minute - that is good. I'm wondering if there are other plans like that out there (available to Canadians) and what is best to use.

Anyhow, just starting to 'think' again about this stuff. I can't wait for the day we are bustling around trying to get everything done before we leave!