Summer 2011

What a wonderful summer it was!  Great weather, great travels, and most of all wonderful news of baby brother William.  There was so much we did and saw, that I thought I would just add a montage of pictures of our summer vacation.

Package to William

With all the excitement of the referal and the process of getting things done legally, we finally sent out our package for baby William.  We tried to put different things than Olivia's package way back when, but there were the essentials.  This package was sent September 17th.

* Elmo musical book (because he's at the stage where bright lights and music catch his interest)
* 123 Canada  (Olivia got ABC Canada)
* His Build a bear with our voices (we tried to get Olivia's voice on there but she refused to perform). His name is Charles (a concession because Martin wanted the name Charles but I didn't)
* Some very cute outfits. 1 especially but that says "Little Brother".  :0)
* 2 disposable camera - don't know if they will use it.  Hope they are taking pictures digitally.
* A fabric book with our pictures in it.
*A box of "Canadian" chocolate - well, they are little Halloween chocolates but bars only sold in Canada (Smarties, Aero etc) for the foster family.

We are hoping to send him a DVD of us and Olivia so he can really see our faces and hear our voices.  Might also put an ELMO dvd in there to prep him for our flight back.  :0)
Our dear William - I would put the moon in the box for you if it meant you could come home sooner.  Missing you everyday.

Congratulations Papa!

We just wanted to show support for Papa this weekend. A job well done!  Olivia has been witnessed and understands that part of Papa's work is his training. In the morning, she knows Papa has either gone for an early morning swim, bike ride, or a run. She understands that it's just part of daily routine. What she doesn't understand yet, is that Papa is an amazing athelete.  He just doesn't do all 3 sports - he inspires us while he does them.

Congratulations Papa on a very difficult race (especially we were not at the finish line this year to cheer you on). Next year...there will be the 3 of us cheering you on.  Olivia and William will be racing with you to the finish line.

Bedtime Battles

So with the hurry of getting things ready for William, we have been pushing Miss O to sleep in her own bed (by herself). The first part seems to be working okay. She knows that she needs to sleep in her own bed, in her own room. What we can get around though is her sleeping by herself. Let's just say it has been a exhausting (somewhat painful) journey. So after about a month of sleeping in her own bed, Olivia has managed to sleep on her own for about 5-6 hours, then at around 2am...then...4:30...then 6:30am...someone has to go into her room and put her back down. Well..not really put her back, lie down beside her.

As you can see in the past photos, she is sleeping in a toddler bed. This means...Maman or Papa is sleeping on the floor (comforter and pillow). It's been very tiresome. But we need to do it. I keep telling myself, it's for her benefit, but my shoulders and back say "screw it!" (pardon the language). The other night, I did a test. I thought I could at least keep her door open, while I put away laundry and she would eventually go to sleep. Nope. She just sat up waiting for me to come back to the room. When I really pushed it and told her that I was going to close the door if she didn't stay in her bed...she LOST IT.

It was brutal. I am writing about this because I know I am not alone in this plight to get the toddler to sleep. However, I wanted to share how hysterical Miss O got. hahahhaha. She SCREAMED, and it wasn't a "I want my mommy!" scream, it was " I am soooo angry at you for doing this!!!" scream. "OPEN THE DOOR!!!!" Much more scarier. hahahah. Then at one point, between gasps of air, I see the little fingers under the door wiggling! Constant screaming and constant banging on the door. At one point, the screaming "softened" and I wasn't sure what she was up to. She was still angry but she was busy doing something.

Sigh. I opened the door fearing that she was getting into something or hurting herself. When I opened the door, there she was putting a pair of pants over her pajamas. They were new pants so she knew to RIP off the tag. It was like "If you are not opening the door, i'm leaving!". It was pretty amazing to see her come up with that stuff. Of course, we took them off, I put her back in bed. Yup...I laid down beside her. Sure enough, out of pure exhaustion, she put the pillow over her head (like PAPA) and passed out. Good, I thought. At least she would sleep through the night. Surely she was totally exhausted from everything! I was.

Unfortunately, like clockwork, she woke up almost at the same times. Sigh.
 Point of all this...we are going to buy a double bed this weekend.

W is for Whirlwind and William

What a whirlwind 2 weeks. We went from finding out about William, to appointments with doctors, lawyers, and shopping. The last one I couldnt' resist. I tried to fight the temptation of buying him stuff, but I was in baby mode. Plus I had to get a package to him ASAP with lots of goodies - making sure we spoil him because we are not there yet.

We just signed off our Motion to Accept this referal with our social worker (like there was any doubts). It was just a formality. Again, this recommendation from the social worker goes to the Ministry. Then we wait for our Letter of No Objection. Again, who would object. William has Martin's hair!

It's been so busy the last couple of weeks, not only with William's referral, but summer stuff. You know, playgroups, picnics, visitors etc. It's been an awesome summer, and there's a pang in my heart knowing that William has missed it all and it might take a couple of months for him to come home. Part of this feeling comes from getting a updated report already on William. There is a developmental checklist and some words from the social worker about how he is progressing. Ugh, he's grown so much and I can imagine the things he's learning and trying to do. Plus...there's aDVD. We haven't watched it yet, as there was a "mix-up" in the mail. Sigh...very frustrating. But we are trying to be very patient. That should come this week. I just pray that the LONO comes sooner and we will be able to travel sooner than expected.

In the meantime, William has gotten some gifts from friends and family already - a cool trainset and some cute overalls. Wow, a boy! I'm still in disbelief this has happened so fast. It's such an amazing feeling knowing that I will have a son - apparently a totally different animal than girls. hahahahha

My little boy, you are are constantly in our thoughts. We love you so much already. Praying that we see each other soon.

ok, back to almost Normal

OK, well before all this we actually did go on vacation. I will make my post briefly and post a few pics and let Mel go into details.

In a nutshell...
Olivia loves airplane...and penguins!
Olivia loves water...and SeaWorld
Papa loves shopping ;-)

and it begins! Marty's take

WOW! I have a son! This is crazy. When we had Olivia the surprise was around having a girl, as typically the ratio boy/girl in Korea is about 80/20. This time we were pretty certain that we would be getting a referral for a boy...in November/December, not just 2 weeks after submitting our file.
Once the shock was gone, and after looking at the pictures as well as the details we got from Korea detailing "a day in William's world" we understood and realized that 2 weeks was a long time! Let's just say that temperament wise him and his sister will have a field day keeping papa and maman busy! As they say a match is a match!

When we decided (after thinking long and hard....you know Olivia is like having 2 kids at the same time! (only Mich and Mike can disagree on this;-)) to have a second one; we obviously wanted two for us, but as well we felt that Olivia deserved a sibling. But the feeling after we got the call was totally unexpected and amazing. For the first time in my life I felt complete, whole.

We are now running around to lawyers, finishing government papers preparing our little send away gift as he awaits our arrival and our first meeting. As mentioned previously, he won't like us very much the first time he sees us, but I can already hear his big sister saying...."it's ok baby, no crying...maman baby is crying! it's ok".

I can't wait having him and Olivia be together, she already greets him when she sees his picture in the morning.

Almost forgot..one little more detail..Marty's take

Oh yeah, Looks like Mel forgot one small little detail when she posted the pics
Olivia is really excited to welcome her little baby brother William (Determined protector).

This name wasn't actually on our list of boys names. I think it just came to us and it seemed perfect for our "little man". It was funny, because we tried SEVERAL names to see if it would "fit" our young prince, but we always came back to William. There is something about his picture that exudes strength and determination. Maybe it's just the proud Maman and Papa thinking. :0)

Olivia's Baby Brother

Surprise News in Orlando!

After a wonderful vacation (in the sweltering heat), we found ourselves sweating even more 10 minutes before our flight back to Canada. We had just finished a yummy lunch at the Tex Mex restaurant in the airport. We decided to tire out Miss O a bit by having her run all the way down to the gate. All you could her "i'm going to catch you Papa!", with a few stumbles of exhaustion here and there.

When we arrived at the gate, we had a few minutes to rush to the washroom and change her diaper. As Olivia and I were looking out the glass window for planes, I see Martin hailing me down. He had somewhat a disbelief look on him. I was kind of worried. Then he yells out "It's Shelley!". Okay...we knew we had some cheque to deliver to the lawyers this week. Maybe it was just a reminder. But, Martin kept calling me to come over while laughing and saying "Oh my god!". At that point, my heart started beating a little bit more faster, I was shaking. I was staring Martin down trying to see if this what it really meant. Meanwhile, Olivia has bolted down another aisle of chairs. I grabbed her and ran over to Martin.

Just looking at the expression on his face confirmed my suspicion. We have a son. Just after sending the dossier to Korea 2 weeks ago. We JUST mailed our sponsorship to the government before our trip. OMG! Could this be happening so quickly???? And it has. In disbelief, we just stared at each other. There were tears of joy and I felt I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs that we had a baby boy! An announcement like this I guess wasn't appropriate airline lounge ettiquite. So we just hugged and cried and hugged and cried and laughed in shock.

After this news, we had to board our plan. We literally were trapped on the plane for 3 hours without any family and friends to talk to about our news! It was brutal. Martin did manage to get hold of his parents just before we took flight. I, on the other hand, had my family still travelling back. So they were still in transit and I couldn't get hold of them. It was so very frustrating.

Well..we managed to get Miss O down and we cried again. By this time, Shelley had sent pictures and we just couldn't stop staring at his pictures. Can I say DISBELIEF again? God, he's gorgeous. We can't stop crying in joy. So much for sleeping on the plane. My head is pounding with exhaustion and joy. My heart is pounding full of love. This was the most emotional plane ride to date, other than the plane ride home with Olivia. Another journey, unexpectedly early, but equally emotional and overjoyed with our baby boy.

Florida July 2011

The Savard Family vacation this year took us to sunny HOT Orlando Florida. Many people warned us that it would be hot. It didn't help that all of North America was going through an unusal heat wave. But that didn't stop us. We knew the outlets and malls would have air conditioning. hahhaha. To make this trip extra special, Lola and Lolo and Tita Melissa came along too. So really it was a Savard-Ortiz vacation.

On our first day, we took it easy. The heat took us aback and we decided to hit the outlets and then later on pool. The outlets were okay at this time of year, but we knew shopping with a toddler would be difficult. Olivia thankfully stayed in her stroller for a good amount of time (it must have been the snacks). After a good 45 minute nap in her stroller, she wanted out. Maman and Papa still wanted to walk around...soo that's were Lola, Lolo, and Tita Melissa come in. They gracously watched Miss Olivia through coins back and forth in the fountain (her new favourite thing to do these days). We ended the day by the pool and went out for dinner (PF CHANGS). After Olivia fell asleep for the night, Martin and I snuck out and did the outlets again. :0P till 11:00pm closing. Got to love these US shopping hours.

Next day, we decided to take advantage of the scorching heat and visit Sea World. We lathered up with sunscreen, packed our bottles of water and headed off to Olivia's favourite place in Orlando (at 2years old). We went last year in November (when she was not yet 18 months) at she was interested, but not like now. She was able to share her enthusiasm with us and was able to name all the sea creatures we meet. It was pretty cool. Maybe we have a marine biologist in the making. :0) As soon as we got there, she was squealing in excitement "What's that? What's that?"

Sea World has this special way to put people in awe of the sea. Love the underwater glass ceilings where you can see the sharks from above.

After that cool aquarium, we headed to Olivia's favourite animal - Penguins. It was a moving floor that took us from 1 end of the room to the other. We saw all kinds of penguins - swimming, eating, resting etc.

Olivia couldn't get enough, so we went back up to the observation deck, where she could just sit and watch the penguins play.

It was soooo hot that day, that Olivia didn't mind sitting in her stroller eating her ice cubes "DES GLACES". Needless to say, she was very hydrated during the day.

Of course, the best thing about these aquariums is the fact that you can go under and see the dolphins swim and get right up to the glass.

I have to say the highlight of Sea World was not the dolphins or the penguins, but was the chance to touch the manta rays in the feeding pools. At first she was afraid by these flapping sea creatures. But sure enough the curiosity took over and she was trying to grab them. The video we have is priceless because it looks like she literally tries to jump in.

A special moment with Tita Melissa.

The next day was Pool Day! We even got to eat by the pool and the food was fantastic. The first time we went into the pool Olivia was splashing like a seal all over the place. The term "NO FEAR" was our word of the day. It was pretty stressful containing her in the pool. She would leap of the ledge and dive into the water with little notice. She was sooo excited that she was running and falling all over the place in the water. Tita Melissa took one look at that and vowed she would never take Olivia swimming by herself. hahahaha. I have to say it wasn't the most relaxing day at the pool. HOWEVER, the second time we went to the big pool, she was awesome. She listened and waited for us. I guess the novelty of the pool wore off and she was swimming fabulously. Papa was soo proud. We even did some pool activities they had with the children.

Olivia participated in a hula hoop contest and won a green beaded necklace. Wish we had pictures of that. It was a great day.

We love to pour water. Back and forth. Back and forth.

After a lovely day by the pool, we had a yummy dinner at CHEESECAKE FACTORY at the Millenium Mall. We were supposed to go to City Walk at Universal and eat at Bubba Gumps but it was pouring rain. Well..with the humidity it had too.

After dinner, the downpour had stopped and it was actually very pleasant outside. Muggy yes, but a bit cooler so we decided to head down to City Walk and enjoy the night life. Aside: Every night when Martin and I stepped out after putting Miss O to bed we would see these families with their small kids at the outlets at 10pm eating at the foodcourt, walking around. I have to admit I was one of those people who shook their heads and said "Get your kids to bed at a decent hour!" - Well...ya..we were at City Walk at 9pm with Olivia. Sigh. I guess when you are on vacation and time is limited, you do what you can. Olivia had a great time, and she slept her 12 hours. :00

When we bought our Sea World tickets (which purchasing online is always cheaper and less line ups), we were able to get a second day free. So we decided that we would go back to Sea World. It was too hot the first day to do everything. Tita Melissa ended up going to Universal Studios by herself (she wanted to do the Harry Potter ride). Lola and Lolo explored International Drive and all the shopping by taking the I-Ride Trolley (which is fabulous for tourists).

The first thing we wanted to do was to see the Baluga whales. At this exhibiton, they had a giant block of Antartic Ice they transported. Of course, Olivia LOVED touching it. It was there in November, but I remember it being much bigger, but I guess it melts.

Papa and Olivia played in the polar bear dens.

Again, another hot day. Why not hit the splashpad!

While everyone was watching the Shamu show, we decided to take advantage of the children section. Papa and Olivia went on the spinning tea cups (Swirling Fishies). She actually was amused by it. I don't know if Papa was getting dizzy though.

The next ride...oh boy. There was this rid that was similar to the swinging boat. But we assumed it was at the children's section so it wouldn't go high. I knew Olivia hates going on swings (she is more a slide person), but she kept singing "Row row row your boat!" and pointing to the ride. So off Papa and Olivia went. Sure enough, while they were waiting in line. the boat not only swung back and forth but it TURNED SIDE TO SIDE too!!!!! I looked at Olivia's expression in line, and she wasn't smiling she was "observing". Papa and I took a good look at each other and didnt' think it was a good idea. But Olivia kept saying "Papa, boat, row row...". They went on...1 minute later the ride comes to and end. We had screaming Olivia trying to stand up and get out of the boat. Sigh. Thankfully, the ride was restarted for everyone again. Sheesh. WE TOLD YOU! Maybe next year.

Here was more of Olivia's thing. Sand, shade, and a slide. Perfect.

To top off our wonderful vacation. Lola and Lola treated us to an AWESOME restaurant. TEXAS DE BRAZIL. Ugh..can't even tell you how much I love this restaurant. We purposely didn't eat lots during the day so we could take advantage of this $50/person buffet of meat. Byt the end, we all had meat sweats. It was delicious. Definitely something that everyone should try at least once.

It was a great vacation. Not only because it was in Orlando (one of our favourite spots to vacation), but it was the company. Living in Ottawa and so far away from my home city, it's hard to get down and see everyone. Love my family, love my life. Blessings surround me everyday.

Big Girl Bed!

Well, it was time. It is the summer and we had to get Olivia used to sleeping in her own bed before her brother or sister arrived. Even our king size bed couldnt' fit 2 little monkeys in it.

Thanks to a my friend Elayna, Olivia has a new white toddler bed. We made a huge deal out of it. There was lots of praise going around and she was actually excited to sleep on it (well...at first to jump on it).

The first night, as expected proved to be similar to the first time we put Olivia in her crib. Not a lot of sleeping going on. She would wake up every 2 hours looking for me. Then I would bring her back (fortunately, with no fuss) and put her back to sleep. Let's just say, there was a makeshift bed next to hers. This would happen the same for naptimes. Just when Olivia has started to sleep through the night and had great 2 hour afternoon naps, we moved to this. Sigh.

Oh well, this is what we have to do. I'm out of school, I have the time, and a good massage will help my aching back. :0)

First trip to the Zoo - Papa and Olivia Adventure

Happy Canada Day!

Yes, Will and Kate were down. But no...we didn't get the chance to go downtown to see them. We went our regrets earlier. :0)
The thought of all those people downtown in the heat didn't make us jump up and go.
We had much more fun at the Canada Day festivities in our area.





As you can see...so did Papa!