kimberly May 22nd, 2010

It’s hard to believe, but today marks one year since Leah joined our family. (Has it really only been a year since we were in Korea? It seems like so much longer ago.)

Leah has changed so much in this past year, but she is still mischievous (we don’t call her Sneaky Pants for nothing!) and continues to have Todd wrapped around her little finger.

Adam is away visiting extended family in Montreal, so the special day was celebrated just amongst Todd, Leah and me. After the week we’ve had, it was nice to do something fun. The Korean Food and Beverage Exhibition took place this weekend, so we headed down to the convention centre to check it out.

The venue wasn’t as big as we had anticipated, but there were several demonstrations and a decent number of booths with wares to sample.

Leah enjoyed the Korean drumming even though it was insanely loud (usually she covers her ears when confronted with any noise above normal speaking volume). She also happily scarfed down tofu salad and two dumplings from PHFood.

And, oh my goodness, they had vegan dumplings that were to die for — it’s always a thrill to find vegan food in places I’m not expecting!

There were also beverage and noodle vendors, including this booth with the niftiest noodle contraption (art installation?).

Finally it was time to head home. Leah was completely tuckered out. So were we, to be honest.

Happy Leah Day, sweetheart! We love you bunches and couldn’t imagine life without you.

Tags: family day, korean food, leah

• life , milestones
• Comments(3)

kimberly February 17th, 2010

While the rest of Ontario celebrated Family Day on Monday, our celebration was today, the anniversary of the day Adam joined our family. I love getting to post this picture every year: our first family photo with Adam.

Happy Family Day!

Four years ago, Todd and I were sitting in our room at the SWS Guest House in Seoul, looking at Adam and wondering just when it would hit us that we were real, honest-to-goodness parents. I think it finally sunk in when we realized Adam’s diaper needed to be changed and we were going to have to figure out how to wrestle this squirmy bundle of energy out of his clothes with nobody to help us. Sadly, Dr. Sears did not seem to adequately cover diaper changing in the 700-page tome I’d packed in our carry-on luggage, though the section on burping a baby was very helpful.

Adam requested brownies for his special Family Day Dessert, so I made Scrum-Diddly-Umptious Vegan Brownies, which are quick and easy to make (perfect for weeknight baking).

My little chocolate monster declared them “awesome,” which is his current favourite descriptive word. He’s pretty awesome, too, if I do say so myself. I consider myself so very privileged to experience the joy that is parenting Adam. And the fact that he’s a fellow chocolate lover doesn’t hurt.

Tags: adam, family day

• adoption , life
• Comments(1)

kimberly May 22nd, 2009

In my haste to get over to the SWS on time, we ended up arriving 15 minutes early. Go figure.

Mrs. Kang was already there, so we got to sit with her and Leah for a few minutes before Leah was whisked away to the hospital for a final check-up.

Leah weighs in at a whopping 6.3 kg and is 66.5 cm long (for those non-metric people, that’s 13.9 pounds and 26.2 inches long); she is very, very tiny and most of her clothes are huge on her.

Once our social worker returned with Leah, we went through her final report and had the opportunity to ask any last questions we may have had. We received diapers, bottles, clothes, a Korean flag and pendant, two CDs of children’s music and some clothing from Mrs. Kang.

It was a very emotional experience as Mrs. Kang passed Leah over to me. We didn’t take nearly as many photos as we had planned; somehow it just felt too intrusive and insensitive to try to document every moment.

I was crying as we left the SWS; Mrs. Kang was trying not to, but I’m not sure she fared much better. By the time we got back to the hotel, I was mostly composed, but stayed on the verge of tears for another hour or so.

The four of us spent a while playing, eating and getting to know each other, during which time we discovered that Leah is quite the giggler. Also, Adam has really taken to being a big brother, wanting to help Leah sit up, giving her lots of hugs and generally trying to take care of her.

Todd and Adam went swimming for a bit and Leah and I hung around the hotel room and played some more. Then we walked down to E-Mart to purchase diapers (since the ones we were given were too big) and baby food, stopping at Domino’s on the way back to pick up a cheeseless pizza for dinner. During our walk, Leah napped for a mere 20 minutes, as per the report.

After dinner, Adam and I walked over to Starbucks (I got him some soy milk since we’ve had a hard time finding that around here) and then Todd and Adam went swimming for the second time today. Shortly after they left, Leah realized that Mrs. Kang was apparently not coming back and she was stuck with us. And thus began the crying, followed by falling asleep a little after 7:30 p.m.

She woke up 25 minutes later and has been awake ever since, initially crying hard (but seemingly somewhat calmed by Adam’s presence) and then happy and giggly as she and Todd played together.

Or course, since Leah isn’t asleep, neither is Adam. And apparently Leah won’t likely fall asleep till around 11 p.m., so we still have a little time to go.

Happy Family Day!

Tags: adam, family day, korea, leah, mrs. kang

• adoption , korea 2009
• Comments(5)

kimberly February 17th, 2009

Three years ago today, we became a family of three.

Love. 

Tags: adam, adoption, family day

• adoption , life
• Comments(3)