The grounds
Staircase
Now unused sinks in the old nursery area
Benches by front gate
Looking from the balcony area down towards front gate/entrance
I believe this is where the Director stays when she is at the orphanage, it is located to the left of the other buildings
These are the buildings located directly across from the front gates:
I realize we have been home for many months now but I had promised a few different families that I would share photos I took of Vung Tau 2 orphanage including some of the improvements and some things that will bring back memories of their time visiting. I have lost most of the emails at this point so hopefully the families still follow my blog and might catch a glimpse of some familiar sights in these photos of Vung Tau 2... Meg's first home.
New front entrance
Main building shown housed sleeping quarters downstairs and classrooms upstairs. Meg's crib (when the orphanage used to care for infants) was upstairs.
This is where the young babies were bathed before the renovations, according to Loan.
This room used to be a nursery and now is functioning as a classroom for the children 5+ yrs old.
Upstairs balcony area leading to where Meg's nursery used to be.
Dedication stone with list of the major contibutors to the recent renovations made on the orphanage.
A solitary crib in the corner of an empty room, that used to hold several cribs for the nursery. All infants are now together in a different orphanage called "Vung Tau 1". This orphanage is now dedicated to children 5 and up.
I dragged Keaton and Chloe out to the woods behind our house on the weekend, in an attempt to get some Christmas card worthy shots. It was the worst time of day to do it (noon) for lighting purposes but I managed because I had to... there was no way I was going to get them to agree to modeling for me again any time soon.
Here are a few favourites...
Meg is 11 months old now. Time is ticking away and I can't for a minute remember what our life was like without her. She continues to blossom and her personality is on full-tilt when she is at home with us. She is a bit shy when she is out and about though. Meg continues to eat everything in sight (dog hair and dust bunny's included) and is loving all the new foods as we introduce them to her. She has tried just about everything now except egg whites, honey and peanut butter. She is sleeping a bit better lately and has given us the treat of a full nights sleep a few nights this past week. Let's hope that continues! Meg still has no teeth but I can see them trying to break the surface and she is crankier than usual so I think that must be the reason. Soon I think she'll be sporting 2 front teeth. I hope it is soon so she won't be suffering with cutting teeth for a bit again.
Here is Miss Meg at 11 months old. She isn't always this serious but on this day, there was no smiles for mommy's camera!
My Halloween post has been 'on hold' for a few days because our 3rd little trick or treater was not feeling great on Halloween and so I had no photos of her in her sweet costume. She has had her first ear infection and today was the earliest I thought she'd tollerate the costume and momma's camera!
First let me show you Keaton and Chloe. This year I asked them to give our wallet a break and come up with a costume from what we already had at home. Surprisingly they were fine with that and Keaton agreed to be a ghoulish pirate, while Chloe opted to be a 'diva devil'. They had a great time coming up with their costumes and make up ideas.
Keaton - The Pirate (and a scary one at that!)
...and Chloe the Devil... wearing a red tutu no less!
...and better late than never - we got sweet Megs dressed up in her costume and ran outside to snap a few before she froze and before the sun set tonight. I'm not sure but I'd have to say she is the cutest lady bug there ever was!
(Click on the horizontal shots to see a better view, Type pad warps them for some reason)
...told you - Cutest lady bug EVER.
It has been a busy few weeks with hockey, school trips, Halloween, H1N1 line ups and Meg's first ear infection since she's been home.
I knew something was up with Meg when she cried non-stop for almost 2 hours on Halloween day... she never cries for more than a minute and I just could not console her. She seemed a bit better on Sunday and when I got her to her doctors on Monday he confirmed she had an ear infection and she is now on amoxycillin. Both Keaton and Chloe have had bad reactions to this drug before so I'm keeping an eye out but she seems fine. She is supposed to be napping right now but instead is playfully kicking the wall beside her crib and singing a song. She is such a good baby and I really cannot believe sometimes how blessed we are to have Meg in our lives.
Keaton has hockey ALL THE TIME it seems. We have a big tournament coming up in a couple weeks and I just checked our calendar and it seems EVERY Saturday and Sunday until January are booked with home or away games for his team. Eek!
The kids had a fantastic Halloween and I'll have to post about it (along with some photos) soon.
For now here are a couple of Meg in her perch, eating her cheerios and looking as sweet as ever. Meg is 10 1/2 months old now - that is just crazy to believe!
(Meg loves to wave 'hi' to everyone, including my camera)
(This is her new pucker up face she likes to make all the time)
(...still growing into her high chair)
I remember making caramel apples with my mom every year and now my kids are happy that the tradition continues. The easiest (and tastiest) way to make them is with the pre-made sheets of caramel that you just wrap around each MacIntosh apple... mmm mmm good. Easy peasy and 5 minutes in the oven = a treat for the whole family. Meg even got to eat some of the inside apple too!
Chloe thought she should pose with her apples before they went into the oven:
All done and ready to eat...
...or should I say "DEVOUR"....
When we were in Vietnam, there were the 4 families from Ontario and we all were adopting sweet little girls, all from Vung Tau (but in 3 different orphanages). We spent many hours and days together during our time in Vietnam and we quickly coined the girls as "our Vung Tau girls". Each of them have a special place in my heart - I was there as each of them met and became part of a new family.
I was so excited that Jen and Quinn Anh were able to come for a visit today. They live 4 hours from us so we will not have a ton of opportunities to get together. Jen's son was in a hockey tournament here and it was the perfect few hours to get together and let Quinn Anh see Meg. Jen said that Quinn Anh was very excited to see baby Meg and I can say that Keaton and Chloe were really excited to get the chance to meet another little girl from Vietnam. Quinn Anh is beautiful and she has changed so much since those first timid and emotional days in Vietnam. She goes to Kindergarten a couple times a week and is doing great with her 4 other siblings! Chloe had a blast and knew just how to get her giggling - I think she had a fun time playing with Chloe's Barbie dolls and running around our backyard exploring. We felt so lucky to get a visit from them!
We have 2 kids in our house that are wild about fancy schmancy coffee drinks and milkshakes. Yes, I know it is totally not appropriate to allow an 8 yr old and a 6 yr old to be drinking these but once in a while we treat them with a trip to Tim Horton's for a tasty ice cappuccino or to Starbucks for frappucino.
Shaune came up with the idea on Thanksgiving Monday that he'd treat them to an ice cap - from home. He found a delicious recipe on-line and went to work creating happiness in a cup for Keaton and Chloe. They were thrilled and drank them up. i even gave one a try and they were sooooooo good - better than Timmies and a lot cheaper!
Later in the evening we wondered why the kids were so buzzed - oh ya, the caffeine!
Chloe taste testing straight out of the blender
I bumped into a great new online site today and was excited to see so many of the things I've been looking for all in one spot. The store is called http://www.csnbaby.com/ and you can see from the link just how vast the selection is. Everything from nursery decor to baby essentials and all the best educational toys - there are some really great things to be found.
I was especially looking for a new diaper bag for me and Miss Meg. My order is in and I should be getting this delightful (and ever so pink) diaper bag in the coming week - I will be sure to let you know how I like it once I get it in the mail. I'm a big fan of all the Skip Hop products and found the on-line store had really reasonable prices in comparison with our local baby boutique here in my home town.
Happy shopping!
Ugh, i had a great descriptive thoughtful and thankful post all typed up but Type pad ate it and I don't have it in me to be that wordy again tonight.
Thanksgiving was wonderful. We enjoyed some hockey (tournament in Gananoque - we won the B champs & got a surprise visit from Sadie and family), some family time (delicious prime rib at the Lightfoots, amazing turkey dinner at Aunt Ann's), a nice visit with my cousin's from out West (Edmonton, AB), some lazy time (Monday we didn't leave the house!) = we gave thanks that Gram made it through a health scare and was able to get out of the hospital in time to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. We were thankful for Meg's first Thanksgiving with us - it was a long time coming and we are so blessed to have her in our lives. We enjoyed spending time with all 3 of our beautiful children!
... and I was very camera-lazy! I barely managed a few photos - but here they are.
...the sun was going down when I finally managed a couple shots of the kids on Thanksgiving Sunday.
Lazy long weekends!!! LOVE THEM!
Keaton signed up for Cross Country running this year and qualified to run in the big race at the Sandbanks on Lake Ontario. On race day my mom and I (along with Meg) drove over to the county to watch him run and cheer him on. He was disappointed with his placing (There were 75ish boys running in his age group and he placed middle of the pack) but not for long... he had a great time watching all the other age groups race and seeing all his friends from different schools - that he knows through hockey but never gets to see at school. It was a long race and I was so proud of him for finishing and with a smile on his face too!
It was so windy and cold that Meg wore her little snowsuit and I even bundled my big red scarf around her to block the wind from her neck. Isn't she the cutest little cheering squad you've ever seen?
Keaton and Chloe are busy, busy, busy. They are loving school and are involved in lots of activities.
Keaton signed up for cross country running this year and is loving it - he always was a runner but more of a 'sprinter' so I wasn't sure how he'd like it. He placed 3rd and came home with his ribbon at his first running meet of the year. The top 10 in each age division moves onto the next race which is tomorrow - he is very excited for it. Here is a photo of him on race day, before he headed off on the bus:
(his racing tank isn't dirty, i just cloned out the school name that was across the front of it)
Keaton also made it through Rep hockey try outs and is on the "A" team for his Atom age group in hockey. He is one of only three boys his age (Grade 4) to make the team - the rest of the team is from 5th grade. He was really happy with himself for qualifying to be an alternate player and within a week of playing with the team in games, the coach asked him to officially join the team as a full time player. Go Blues!Chloe is loving school and Grade 1. She has so much fun on the playground and in the classroom. I just stopped at the school today to pay for some upcoming class trips and Chloe actually showed up in the office needing ice for her face - she had fallen off the monkey bars and scratched up her eye. She told me she thinks it's gonna be a black eye and that didn't seem to bother her one bit. She is funny always! She does karate once a week and enjoys that a lot. She told me she wants to learn karate so she can "kick bad guys butts!"... that's my girl!
Keaton and Chloe love coming home at the end of school and being with Meg. Meg lights up when they come running off the bus yelling her name. She knows she is the apple of both their eyes. By 4pm she is probably tired of just hanging out with me.
Yesterday when Chloe got off the bus she took a little detour directly into a big mud puddle in the middle of our gravel driveway. She was dancing in the rain and when the rain stopped apparently she wasn't wet enough so she started dancing in the puddle. This then led somehow to dipping her head in the puddle and then finally... to swimming and sitting in the puddle. The smiles and giggles had me running for my camera instead of giving her trouble - there are some things you can not begrudge a kid... and puddle jumping is one of those things. She was having the time of her life.
What a mess!
Meg is 9 months old now and truly thriving. She is such a joy to our whole family and the source of much laughter - everything she does illicits giggles from Keaton and Chloe - Meg thinks she is a comedic genius.
Meg can be guarded and doesn't show her funny side to just anyone... she doesn't make strange per se but she has a select group of family and friends that she knows well enough to be around when mommy leaves the room. She has only been without myself (or Shaune) 3x.... where ever I go - she goes too usually. In time this will change as she becomes more comfortable with things. The lucky babysitters so far have been my mom, Shaune's mom and my good friend Kerri. Each time I've only left her for a couple hours - each time she has shown signs of missing me and being sad - which is quite uncharacteristic of Meg... she is a pretty "happy go lucky" girl. Our bonding is beginning to become more and more apparent and today was the first time in our 3 months together that she has really cuddled in when she wasn't asleep and just rested her head on my shoulder. It brought tears to my eyes as she looked up at me and let out a deep sigh and she really seemed to be in her happy peaceful place. She knows I'm her momma.
We spend our days at home just hanging out a lot. The house sorta gets picked up after here and there but mostly it is just her and me chilling together. Today I danced and danced with her to all my favourite songs and you know what... as I sang them in her ear she started to hum and then she started to 'sing' along. She loves to dance with me!
At 9 months old Meg is doing really well I think. Considering the trauma of being so sick for 3 months and on a ventilator for several weeks... you just would not know our sweet girl was ever so ill. She is very tiny but growing well. At 6 months when we went to Vietnam, Meg weighed in at a whopping (ha!) 10 1/2 lbs. She now is somewhere around 14 lbs. She eats like a little piggie and still enjoys her bottles. It is hard to believe that our Meg that only drank 1-2 oz a feeding 3 months ago now eats 6-7 oz several times a day (and night). Her favourite foods include broccoli, sweet potato, peas, carrots, pears, peaches, high fat yogurt, cheerios and baby mum-mums! Every week she gets a new kind of food and the only one she has really turned her nose up to was the avocado. I am weird and love making homemade baby food - something I never had the time to do with Keaton and Chloe. Shaune thinks I'm a bit odd to get such satisfaction from it - I think he just wishes I'd put as much enjoyment into other domestic duties like cleaning and laundry! Meg gives the best kisses whenever you ask for one and loves to wave hi and bye to everyone. She has several hundred people in our town and group of family/friends wrapped around her tiny little finger.
Meg started crawling at 8 months old and you can't stop her now. She is all over the place and loves to roam our home looking for fluffs of dog hair she can pick up and play with between her fingers. She loves tiny little details like buttons on shirts and a freckle on your arm. She is very fond of jewelery and my friends joke that the way to Meg's heart is to wear a necklace...then she will happily go in your arms. She has started pulling herself up on furniture and has strong legs - I don't think she is anywhere close to walking anytime soon and that is just fine with me. She is so tiny that when she stands at our coffee table, it is as tall as she is. She loves the chaos that is our home with 3 children and a dog. The noise and the singing (Keaton tends to go into soprano at times - believe it!) and the music and the tv, etc... make for an entertained baby. Her vocabulary consists mostly of babbling and her favourite work is most definitely 'dadda' - which I like to remind my husband is an easier word to say than 'momma'. :)
Our days are flying by and it is hard to believe that we have been together with Meg for over 3 months... almost 4 months actually. I've been awful about getting my camera out lately - but have managed a few of our cutie pie the past few days. Look how much she has changed! Her hair is getting to that crazy stage - we like to call it a 'skullet' - a baby style most resembling the ever popular 'mullet'... her hair is exactly the same as Chloe's was as a baby in the way it is growing more on the sides than at the top. Her face and body have really filled out and she is a strong chubby little gal now. Each roll on her legs and wrists is a big accomplishment, she was so skinny and tiny at 6 months but you sure wouldn't know it now! She is such a love and we are so thankful for her every day.
Chloe is on the cover of a magazine this month - you can find it in most stores, including Walmart, Chapters, grocery stores and most scrapbook stores. I took this photo of her over a year ago and she looks so different now... amazing how much they grow in a year. She loves showing 'her magazine' to family and friends.
