Family and friends - Part 3

Birthday Party #3 - Continues - Part 2

Once everyone seemed like they had enough, the caterers started packing up their stuff. THen it was time to get Olivia ready for her TOL ceremony. I brought her upstairs and changed her into the hanbok we bought in Korea for her (not realizing that her foster mother had bought her one too). Sooo, we gathered everyone to the front table and Martin did his speech. I don't know about anyone else, but I was emotional. Martin was emotional. Everyday, we count our blessing that this little wonder is really ours. It was her first birthday and everyone (well most of them) that we loved was there to witness and celebrate with us.

SO the TOL ceremony continues, and little Olivia chooses the SPOOL OF THREAD (again..yay!) and a spoon (which meant either good cook or good eater...hahahahha). To much of papa's disappointment, the googles and money that he directed her to was not chosen. hahahahhaha After that, we quickly got her out of that outfit because she was sweating buckets, and the party continued.

Because Olivia LOVES music, out birthday gift to her was a musician who came to play kids music. HE WAS THE BEST THING! He performs during special events, but also has special music classes like Kindermusic. He sat down with his guitar and the kidss made a circle around him. Olivia loved it. She was bouncy and clapping away. So were the rest of the kids AND the parents. He played typical and non-typical songs. SO it was very entertaining. The classic thing I will always remember was when he was singing "Oh MacDonald" and asked Quinlan for something you find at the farm, he yelled out "AN EGG!". And the song continued. HAHAHAHAHHA He brought out instruments for the kids At the end, he gave Olivia a cute stuff monkey as a birthday gift and sang one of her favourite songs "If you are happy and you know it..".

Birthday Party #3 - Ottawa - Part 1

Okay..finally, the last birthday party. Boy this was the one that stressed me out the most. Although we did everything to make sure that we wouldn't be stressed. Our final numbers for the party turned out to be more than 60 people including kids. Where the heck are we going to put everyone as I sent out the EVITE (there were a few hand written ones, but seriously...there was no way to send them all out).

Sooo..we decided on a backyard bbq. Great! We found a great caterer who specializes in backyard bbqs and told us we could get all you can eat hamburgers and hotdogs and salads. Super...done! Then it was just up to us to find the other "stuff". Thank you Costco! As the preparations were underway...sure enough..the weather forecast slowly changes to partly cloudy to scattered showers...to thundershowers!!! PANIC. Soo..on Thursday the week of the party...we called a rental company for a tent. A 20x20 tent! In our backyard. For the party. SHEESH. As I watched them set it up on the Friday...all I was thinking...it's going to be a circus. We joked around about having Tita Melissa climb to the top to put a flag on the peak. hahhahaha

THE DAY OF...

Well..the day of...the house was full. My family from Brampton and Martin's brother's family from Moncton filled the Savard residence. It was great! The children were up running around and playing and the Martin and Max were quickly setting things up in the backyard. Me? Well...I had a hair appointment. :0P
When I came back it was 10:30. Oh oh...Olivia hasn't had her nap yet! SOooo I decided to take her into the car and drive around till she fell asleep. And it worked..and it made all the difference. She woke up about an hour later to find everyone dressed and ready to go. I brought her upstairs and put on ther "Annie Brocolli" outfit, and she was ready to party.

AN ASIDE...while we were changing at 11:30 the phone rang to tell us that the face painter/balloon maker person had the stomach flu and they were going to send another replacement. Ugh.

Shortly after 12 people started coming and the tent was quickly filling up as the SUN began to shine and it was hot! GO FIGURE! It was the most beautiful day! We were sooo blessed. In the end it was still a good idea to rent the tent, because it was the extra shade we needed that day. It was sooo hot.

Family and friends gathered together yet again to celebrate this occasion. For many guests it was a time to catch up on things because they haven't seen each other in awhile. The kids were busily playing and running around in the backyard. We had Olivia's playstructure out and the kids were making good use out of it. Finally the face painter (who didn't do balloons though) came around 12:30 and the kids lined up eagerly to have some special design painted on their face. It was a great idea, and the artist was fantastic!

The food was fantastic. It wasn't those cheapy burgers and hotdogs. It was real patties and huge hotdogs. So wonderful. After meeting most of the guest...Olivia was under the tent playing with her friends...I took Olivia in for a quiet lunch inside. I know it must have been overwhelming for her to have all these people wanting to to touch her and kiss her and take pictures. Mommy and Olivia had a nice lunch in the air-conditioned kitchen, while papa entertained and greeted more people.

A little cousin time before the party

Olivia's cousins from Moncton came down for the big event. It was Olivia's first meeting with Nico and Melodie. They had a blast.

Birthday Party #2

Okay..so I'm taking advantage of a sleeping baby to update my blog. There is birthday party #3 to write about that happened this weekend. But first things firsts, birthday party #2 was just as memorable.

Olivia's birthday was on Thursday June 3rd, and then the next day, Martin left for New Hampshire for a race and we (Olivia, Tita Melissa, and I) ventured back to Brampton for a family visit. However...before we left a we had a "small" disaster. Our fridge broke. I thought no worries, repair guy will come in early Friday morning to fix it and we would be on our way. Yay... didn't happen quite like that. Sigh. He came and opened the freezer and there was literally inches..inches of frost in the back. He ha dto chisel his way through to the wires in the back. THen...he told me that he couldn't work on it now because of all the frost, we had to let it melt OVER THE WEEKEND! SOOOOOO....Friday morning...scrambled to find containers to save my food and take it with me to my parents house. Ugh. Needless to say most of it couldn't be saved. I cut my losses and packed up the car and we left.

OMG...Olivia has been a dream on road trips so far. But this road trip took us * hours. We left at 2pm and arrived close to 10pm. She had a good sleep but there was summer construction that wasted travelling time and an accident. Sooo..we stopped and walked around...had to stop again to have dinner...and then stop again..because it was bedtime and she had to be comforted by mama and not tita Melissa. So we had to switch drivers. Ugh. But we made it safe and sound..and poor Tita Melissa who had been a real trooper lost her bed to Olivia and I. She had to sleep in the guest room on a futon. We slept well though. :0)

In the morning...Olivia was up and ready to face that days adventures. Lola and Lolo were up already busy cooking for the "family" dinner. My sister and I had breakfast and left with Tita Jen (whose birthday was that day) for a pedicure. YAY! WE came back and lunch was ready. Lolo had made some birthday noodles "pancit" for Olivia and Tita Jen. Nice big fat noodles and Olivia loved it. Then it was nap time.

When she woke we got ready for another birthday party. My good friend from high school's son was turning 2. They live in Ohio now so it was extra special to see them on this occasion. I have to say...going to kids birthday parties when you have your own kid is pretty amazing. Truthfully, for many years we were the "childless" couple, always playing with other friends' kids. It was so different this time.

Unfortunately it was a short visit, as we had to get back home to our "family" dinner. I put this in quotations because our family is huge. As I mentioned before in this blog, I love our gatherings. It would be loud and there would be lots of people. We came home quickly to find the party had already started. hahahah. People had arrived earlier that I thought expecting to have a chance to play with Olivia before other people arrived. OOPS. Anyways...Olivia was feed her special birthday meal. There was pancit, rice of course, chicken, shrimps, typical filipino fare (plus desserts!) Then came her icecream birthday cake! Lola really spoiled her. We cut her a piece and she played with it before she put it in her mouth. She loved it. Oh oh. hahhaha.

Olivia again was super in a big crowd. It has been 3 months now, and we were more comfortable with people interacting with her more. Again, my family is super respectful of the fact that it has only been 3 months, but she was great! Everyone was amazed at how great an eater she was. Really? She's not 25lbs for no reason.
hahahhaha

The night quickly wore her out, so after opening the presents, I gave her a quick bath (because she was sooo dirty with food), and we said our goodnights. We jumped into to bed and she feel asleep quickly despite all the noise from the party still going on downstairs.

Lola and Lolo threw a wonderful dinner for Olivia. They cooked and cleaned all day to make this day special. And it was. She is a very lucky girl. I am so happy that my family in Brampton was able to participate in making this birthday very special for Olivia. I always dreamed of this day. Celebrating my child's first birthday with all the relatives.

The next day we would have to leave back to Ottawa (and take Lola back with us).

To make it short, our drive back to Ottawa the next day was amazing!!!! We didn't stop. Lola moved to the back when she woke up at Kingston and played with her until we arrived to Ottawa.

Ottawa Race Weekend

 
 
 

She's 1 today!

YAY! The big today...somewhat anticlimatic. hahahaha I had big plans. We were going to go to the gymnastics centre where Olivia could crawl and bounce around. Then have a fabulous lunch. Then if we were lucky a long nap. Then a traditional Korean dinner. Well..the day didn't start off as planned, of course.

I'm not complaining. Olivia slept in till 9am today. WOOHOO! Well..not really, because she woke up at 4am and wanted to play. After 45 minutes...I couldn't handle it anymore and stuck an ELMO DVD in and hoped she would go back to bed. I don't know if she watched all of it, but somewhere around 6am she was sideways asleep. We turned off the TV and didn't' wake up till much later. Well..she would have slept longer if Papa didn't induce the wakeness. sigh.



We came down for breakfast and she was a great spirits. Of course she was, she slept in until 9am!!! But then my plans went out the window. The gymnastic place didn't have drop ins till 2:30...ugh. Okay...so we would go to China town and pick up some last minute things for Olivia's birthday party..then have lunch, then go to a indoor play area. But... as we got onto the highway...Olivia fell asleep. We didn't' have the heart to wake her up. She missed Chinatown, and we took out food and brought it home. She had a great hour and half nap. Gave her lunch...and finally grandpapa came. YAY!

There was a fiasco about a toy Tita Melissa bought at ToysRus that we needed a truck to bring it back home. SO thankfully, grandpapa brought his truck down and we went to pick it up. We came home set up the play structure. Then it was time to open gifts.

Well..there was one gift that she had to open. Foster family delivered a special package for Olivia for her birthday. We opened it and read the letter from foster mom. Needless to say, all 3 women in the room had tears in their eyes. hahahah. Olivia must have thought what the heck was going on. They gave a lovely hand made teddy bear and wrote on it. She also gave some little trinkets for Martin and I. It was so very thoughtful. I can't wait to send them pictures of Olivia and her TOL.



After that we got ready and she had her first birthday cake. Chocolate with vanilla icing. Not fancy, but made with love. Tita Melissa helped put the icing on, and grandmama helped me not burn it. hahahah She hesitantly put her fingers in the icing. Not sure what to do with this white stuff on her fingers. Then we placed the fingers in the mouth. Then she went back down to the cake for more. sigh. We feed her some chocolate cake. I'm thinking this is not a good thing. She liked it. She liked it a lot! :0)

Finally we went for dinner. Ohhh they were so very nice. I would recommend this restaurant to everyone. We ordered lots of food and it was delicious. We told them it was Olivia's TOL and they gave us complimentary kimchi pancakes (which Olivia loved) and a birthday cake made out of rice flour. They even provided us with objects for Olivia to choose for her TOL ceremony. You'll see in the pictures what she chose. We are so happy with her choices. hahahaha

The owner's wife also came down to lend me her hanbok which was made from beautiful silk. She gently took it out of a box and dressed me up. It was sooo beautiful and was very touched that she let me try it on. It made the evening even more memorable.

The night was fantastic. We got home and found another present by the door from the neighbour across the street. Again...people just pouring their hearts out to this little one. We gave her a quick bath, and she quickly went down for the night.

Was it everything I expected it to be? You know...it was perfect. Lots of love, lots of kisses, lots of smiles. What else could you ask for?

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

It is the night before Olivia's birthday. Sigh. I'm all emotional. One year old. 12months. 3 of which, we spent with you. The other 9, another family loved and cared for you. I don't know but today I feel immense happiness that we are here to celebrate this milestone day, but on the other hand, sad that I missed the 9 months before, wishing that I was there from the very beginning of your life. But that I've taken a moment to reflect on that thought, and now we are ready to celebrate all the milestones we will be witnessing in the many years to come.

So many things you have accomplished in the last three years from sitting up alone, to crawling, to cruising, to free standing and trying to take your first steps. You went from no teeth to 7. You went from short spiky hair, to 2 little pig tails shooting up. You went from "baba" to "mama, papa, baby" and babbling non-stop. You went from comprehending the Korean language, to understanding English and French. You went from pureed food to solid table food that we cut for you. You went from bottle to sippy cup. You went from super shy of strangers to waving "hello" to them(backwards, but still) and blowing kisses. Raffi and Elmo are still a big part of you life. But now you know what a remote control for the TV is used for! You went from playing alone quietly to exploring the world because of your curiousity. You have gone from many people who love you, to countless number of people who adore you. You have grown leaps and bounds in the last few months. What a true blessing to see where you have come and what awaits for you around the corner. Happy Birthday Olivia! Mama and Papa love you so much.

Happy Victoria Day and 3 months!

To celebrate Olivia's first long weekend, we went down to the Byward Market. Her first visit to the market. It's one of the great advantages of living in Ottawa. The market is great. We strolled down to the Tulip festival only to find all the tulips were gone. sigh. But the weather was gorgeous and we didn't pass up the opportunity to find a patio and have lunch. It was interesting because it was so busy in the market during lunch time that there were no highchairs. Plus, we left the stroller and the hook-on chair in the car. No worries, Olivia sat wonderfully in Papa's lap and had a great lunch. It was so awesome. A bonus to this weekend was the Dellosa's were down, and Olivia got to hang out with Brayden.

Hard to believe she's been home for 3 months now. I know I say this in every post, but it seems like she's been home forever. I guess that's how it should be.

Brainwashed by papa!

Getting ready for the season...sigh.  I mean..papa is ready..he's just trying to get Olivia on board.

Mother's Day

Yesterday (started this post Monday..you know..duty calls and I never got back to the computer)  I celebrated my first Mother's day.  Hard to believe after all these years...I would get some phone calls, cards, and greetings sent my way.  It's still hard to believe  I have these precious baby girl who calls me "Mama".  I'm a mom.

Martin asked me a few weeks ago what I wanted to do for Mother's day.  What have I done for my mom in the past?  What have my friends done for Mother's day?  A spa day?  A girl's night out?  Well...no.  I want to spend it with my baby of course!  :0)  I want to spend every minute of the day with her because on this day, it meant so much more. 

We went to grandmaman and grandpapa's house on Saturday.  On our way back, Martin and I had a talk (which we always do - love road trips because of these conversations).  We talked about the birthmother and even though we don't think they celebrate Mother's day like we do here, I'm sure she has taken some time to reflect on her choices that she had to make.  We acknowledged that she did carry Olivia for those 9 months and gave birth to our baby girl.  And with deepest respect, we thank her for that gift of life. 

To the foster mother who cared for Olivia those past 4 months while she was waiting for us to get her.  She loved and cared for Olivia with the best of ability.  We are forever grateful for being her guardian angel. 

For me on Mother's Day - I celebrated with Olivia...that I have her and she has me.  The day I found out about Olivia was my true Mother's Day because my heart overflowed with love and I made a promise to be the best mommy I can be.  So, I ended up spending the day with Olivia and papa.  It was perfect.

I slept in with Olivia.

We opened our gifts together.

We played.

We played some more.

Okay...papa played too.

It was a perfect day... because I'm a mommy now to an amazing baby girl.

A message from my heart

Hi mommy, it's me Olivia.(thanks papa for typing on the computer!) I just want to take some time out of my (well our) busy day to wish you Happy first mother day.
I know when you learned about me, you started loving me and I got you worried a little.
I know the first time we saw each other you might think we shared different feeling, and we did, but
I want you to know that it was special for me too!
You know it was hard for me, but somehow I could see how special you where already.
Thank you for understanding me the first few weeks and giving me the space to find my grooves..I know you know it was never about you, but i needed to tell you.
thanks you for never doubting me when I was sad and crying and picking me up to console me with a big hug! (oh yeah , sorry about eating your hair!)
It has been 2 months, since we got united together and you became my mommy, and I feel you have been there for me forever.
I just want you to know that I love every moment we spend together, from our morning snuggle, our car rides, our silly girly moments, and when you put me to bed.
I love that you take the time to show me stuff, and make me understand how much daddy loves us.
I just want to say thank you for everything you do everyday for me, and most importantly, I want to thank you for everything you will keep doing. you know, our bond can"t be broken. I know faith brought us together, and for this I will forever be grateful,  thank you for being the best mommy anybody can have.
I luv u mommy..to infinity and beyond!
O.

GO HABS GO

Obviously...she cheers for a real team!!!!!! instead of individual golfers!

Marty touching base...

Hi everyone, things are moving so fast.......I now understand when people are saying to enjoy and cherish every moment with your kids....
I'm seriously thinking to put a video recorder in our room (yes, Olivia does spend some night with us) when I can record those 3AM singing/clapping...and kissing screaming papa, papa!
(after mama told her to go see Papa!) she is just so,  well...I'm the luckiest guy ever.

I remembered in our Adoptalk session when they where talking about the length of time that children take to adapt to there new environment, (out of the stage of regression) and when to start parenting with "stronger" guidelines.

I asked how long it typically takes and when do you know? the answer was usually 4-6 months but this is a inexact science, could be shorter or longer....then I ask well when do you know ? so your are told to be attentive pay attention, and that well, you"ll know......
at the time I was like "well that's a helper!!!!!"
First time parent here! I don't even know why Mel (and women in general I might say..;-) give you the silent treatment!...but guess what?
I KNOW!!!!! Miss O is quite, well how can I say....like papa.
Let's just say that she clearly nows the word "non" (No), "viens ici" (come here) et "ca suffit" (that's enough)..because she does oblige, listen then...
well talk back and tap on her hips!!!!ahhhh girls!!!
I got to say it's hard to keep a straight face because she is so funny when she get' s grumpy!
It's always amazing when I shared with my mom, some of Olivia's little "adventure" how she laughs and tells me I shouldn't be surprise!..but i'm sure I didn't talk back that much!

Just when I think it can get any better...well it does!

Anyway here's some picture we had taken by a professional photographer at the TO baby show....I had to share!...